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Heinz Strunk’s new book is like a north German version of Death in Venice, only the temptations are a little less subtle than those in the book written by Thomas Mann, the man from Lübeck. A middle-class hero, a lawyer and writer named Roth, he sets off for Niendorf for a sabbatical. He plans to write an important book, a reckoning with his family. He is unlikely to run into anyone from his own circle in the petit bourgeois town on the Baltic Sea – which is why he chose it. But he soon gets into the clutches of a loud and banal demonic spirit: a man who rents out beach chairs and also owns the local off-licence. Disconcertment and annoyance slowly grow into a random community and, at some point, a necessity. The off-licence owner’s girlfriend is the third person to join the group – very far from being a perfect woman – and yet … by the end of the summer story, Roth has completely lost touch with his old life; he has become someone else …

The musician, actor and writer Heinz Strunk was born in Hamburg in 1962. Since the release of his first book Meat Is My Veg he has written some eleven books. The Golden Glove novel was on the bestseller lists for many months and adapted by film director Fatih Akin to be screened as competitor at Berlinale film fest. Strunk received the Wilhelm-Raabe Prize in 2016, and both his novels It is always so lovely with you and A summer in Niendorf were nominated for the German Book Prize.